Washington apologizes to stockholders for bankruptcyPosted at 4:15 p.m. May 9

BOISE, Idaho - Montana billionaire industrialist Dennis
Washington apologized to Washington Group International
stockholders on Friday for buying Raytheon Co.'s construction
division in 2000 - a decision that drove the company into
bankruptcy.

"I feel sorry I made you suffer for that," Washington said at
the close of the company's first shareholders meeting since shortly
after the acquisition.

Washington recalled rolling up nearly four decades of solid
annual profits from his businesses only to make that one mistake
"and it was a big one."

He was surprised that there were no questions at the close of
the meeting, especially from the people "who lost all that
dough."

"I can think back, not too long ago here, that I might never be
in this room again," Washington told the several dozen shareholders
who attended the session. "We had a lot of problems that seemed to
be overwhelming."

He thanked many of the company's 30,000 employees worldwide for
"hanging in with us" as the business was restructured and predicted
that they have "put a company together that's going to be around
for a long time."

Since emerging from its second bankruptcy in six years in
January 2002, Washington Group has generated a solid balance sheet
from diversified project mix that now includes a contract to
support the U.S. Central Command as Afghanistan and Iraq are being
rebuilt following war. Washington Group President Stephen Hanks
said it could be worth $100 million in the coming year.

Hanks also said the company had people in Oklahoma City on
Friday talking with General Motors Corp. about rebuilding a sport
utility production plant that was destroyed by a tornado Thursday
evening.

The stock closed Friday up 13 cents a share on the NASDAQ at
$19.70.

Washington, 68, bailed out one-time international construction
and engineering giant Morrison Knudsen in 1996 as it was wallowing
in bankruptcy following a series of poor decisions and began
implementing a strategy of diversifying the project lines.

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The Raytheon construction division was purchased in April 2000,
and the company changed its name to Washington Group three months
later in an attempt to show that the operation was under new
leadership.

But the Raytheon deal went sour that fall when it turned out to
carry about $2.5 billion in liabilities rather than the less than
$1 billion anticipated.

A legal battle over the sale followed. But it drove the company
back into bankruptcy, and the value of the stock went to zero for a
second time. Washington held 38 percent of the outstanding
shares.

The company restructured, erasing debt with shares in the new
company while maintaining its project schedules and keeping
customers and partners from fleeing.

In 2002, it generated $3.7 billion in revenue, translating into
earnings of $1.76 a share, and had $3 billion in backlogged
projects.

"It was a very proud moment for us to be able to rebuild this
company again," Hanks told shareholders.

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